The Gozo Boating Association (GBA) has said that on the 26th of May 2010, a Concession Agreement was entered into between the Authority for Transport in Malta and Harbour Management Ltd. which company has been granted the rights for the rehabilitation and operation of the Mgarr Marina at Gozo for a period of 25 years. The GBA said that the Concession Agreement gives an unreasonable amount of freedom to Harbour Management Ltd to conduct its operation of the Marina, without ensuring proper and adequate provisions for Regulatory control by the Authority for Transport in Malta.
Despite promises that consultations would be made, both the Government and the Authority for Transport in Malta failed to provide for any consultation to be made with the major stakeholders, namely, the existing berth holders in the Marina, or their representative bodies, prior to the granting of the Concession Agreement to Harbour Management Ltd, the GBA added.
The Gozo Boating Association said the Concession Agreement needs to be revised in order to address the following issues:
– Provision should be made, under the principle of Double Insularity, for the geographical position of Gozo and the disadvantage to which Gozitans are subject as a result of the Marina being the only marina in Gozo.
· The legal status and protection of existing berth holders, more than half of them being Gozitan, should be more clearly set out in the Concession Agreement.
· The existing berth holders in Gozo Marina, should be granted similar benefits to those granted or to be granted to the berth holders in the marinas at, Vittoriosa, Msida (at the time the original pontoon marina was laid) and Kalkara with regard to the level at which berthing fees are charged, both now and in the future.
· The existing Concession Agreement has, in practical terms, given Harbour Management Ltd the foundation for the creation of a Government sanctioned monopoly. Curtailment of the existing provisions is required to address this.
· Clear and unambiguous Statutory regulation needs to be provided both to existing berth holders and other users of the Marina. The existing Concession Agreement fails to do this.
The GBA concluded by saying that to date, more than 850 Petitioners have signed a Petition of which the above is an outline summary. Those who have signed the Petition have done so only as a result of personal contact through berth holders in the Marina and the Petition has not been advertised or communicated as an online Petition. It has been signed in support of the existing Concession Agreement being amended and revised to make provision for the matters stated, he said that had more time been allocated to sign this petition, then the numbers of petitioners would have been much greater. The original of this petition complete with original signatures will be presented at the Prime Minister’s office early next week.